November 12, 2008

Some advice for council...

I was speaking to my colleague, sports columnist Steve Milton, this afternoon about council considering reaching out to the NHL board to promote Hamilton for a new team. He had a passionate response. Check it out yourself:

Here’s a note to our friends Terry Whitehead and Bob Bratina and all the other folks on Hamilton City Council who may be on the cusp of making an extremely serious mistake.

Don’t vote in favour of any kind of official reaction to recent stories in another newspaper that Hamilton hasn’t got the stuff to be a major league city and that the NHL would rather have a second team in Toronto than one in Hamilton.

If you want to affirm some people’s assumptions that this is a hick town, go right ahead and send a letter to the Globe and Mail, showing your wounded pride, then go meet the NHL commissioner and do the same thing. You’ll play right into Gary Bettman’s anti-Hamilton hands.

You’ll be admitting that you really have no clue what’s going on behind closed doors.

And, you’ll be getting in the way of some very deep, and outwardly painful, work which Jim Balsillie has been conducting on behalf of this city.

First of all, Balsillie’s desire to relocate a team here—not Toronto, not Winnipg, and not Cambridge---is what stimulated this entire debate in the first place. When he took subscription requests for a Hamilton team, while in the process of purchasing the Nashville Predators, he incurred Bettman’s anger, and the commissioner passed it on to the 30 owners.

But it was necessary for Balsillie to demonstrate that he wasn’t going to play the same way other bids, all of which failed miserably, have been played. And less than a year later he had done the unprecedented and near-impossible: he had people INSIDE the NHL wondering if a second team in this market wasn’t indeed a good idea. And they wondered it out loud, as the Spec has reported for many months now.

Second---and it seems hard to believe that people who represent the city where The Spec is printed haven’t read this---for more than 20 years this has always been about a second team for Toronto, as in the GTA. Hamilton happens to be the place where the rink is. And for councilors not to understand that is political naivety of the worst kind.

Third, Balsillie is the guy with the money, and he wants the team in Hamilton. Let him do the fighting for you. If you think he hasn’t done the job to this point, then go back and read the last few paragraphs, v-e-r-r-y slowly if necessary.

Fourth, the sample of NHL governors talked to by the Globe was very small. They may not represent everyone’s views and they too, may also mean GTA, rather than Toronto proper.

Fifth, Balsillie has been working behind the scenes to mend any broken fences with NHL governors, and to correct any disinformation which has been directed their way by the NHL head office. He’s been making nice progress in that regard and any public action by Hamilton council can only unearth all the doubts about this city again and undermine what Balsillie is doing.

Sixth, people and political bodies who whine about not being heard, never get heard. Their complaints seem to justify the tuning out.

Yes it’s hard to see your city dissed by uninformed people, but the right decision here---the one that doesn’t involve political grandstanding---is to let it be and it will fade away. That requires maturity, so we’ll see if council has any.

Any kind of delegation, or letter, will not help land a team in Hamilton, not in the slightest. If anything, it will hurt: making the city look petty and thin-skinned.

Even a discussion of what was said by a few anonymous people about a situation---a fourth pro team in the Air Canada Centre? On what nights?----which is almost beyond hypothetical makes us look foolish and, well, definitely not major league.

Comments

Hello Nicole, Once again great topic, right up my alley.

I can't stress this enough but I don't believe it for a second that Hamilton is the the primary destination of choice for Jim Balsillie's NHL hockey team. Everything about Jim Balsillie is Waterloo...ya, I know he was born in Peterborough and ya, I know his wife hails from Hamilton. My biggest fear here is that we are being used by Jim Balsillie because if he manages to get his hands on one of the dozen or so U.S.-based NHL clubs losing money and needs a place right away to move that team to then the ONLY logical place available for him in Southern Ontario would be our 18,000-seat Copps Coliseum Arena and I'm not the only one that thinks this way ...I know of many others in the community that feel the same way about Jim Balsillie. I hope I'm wrong about this Nicole but the last thing I want to see happen is this city get jerked around like many times in the past. The way that this city and its citizens has been jerked around by Gary Bettman, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Buffalo Sabres and the NHL over the years, why else do you think that I and many others are a little bit cautious about any talk of possibly moving an NHL team here?

The Buffalo Sabres have blocked an NHL team from landing here in Hamilton on MORE than one occasion and they would do it again. Why does Jim Balsillie think that things would be different this time??? Does he know something that the rest of us don't??? I believe so Nicole...I believe Jim Balsillie already knows that the Buffalo Sabres will never change their stance on the territory infringement issue and will play right into it and use that as the excuse to move that NHL club next door into the K-W area...He will tell us all in Hamilton how he really tried his best to bring an NHL team here in town BUT was not able to because the Buffalo Sabres would not allow him to.

The other thing that has also crossed my mind and the minds of many others in this town is why is it Jim Balsillie never comes to Hamilton?...we only see his lawyer come into town representing him. is there something that Jim Balsillie is hiding? Is he afraid that if he shows up in person here in Hamilton that we would be able to see right through him and discover his real intentions?...of moving the team next door to Kitchener-Waterloo???

Two things are for sure here:

(1) The Buffalo Sabres have blocked an NHL team from landing here in Hamilton more than once.

(2) The Buffalo Sabres have NOT officially come out to state that they have CHANGED their stance on the territorial issues.

Its for the above two reasons that I remain pessimistic of our chances here in Hamilton of one day landing an NHL team....but having said all that Nicole, I sincerely hope that one day, some day, Mr. Jim Balsillie can prove me and many others in this town wrong about all of this.

I tend to agree with Steve Milton. Keep a gag on Bratina and the rest of the (edit) at city hall and bide our time. It's not in this cities best interest's to start whining and complaining to the NHL. Let the people with the money do the wheeling and dealing.

Excellent advice from Steve. That is exactly what I thought about the immature and pointless over-reaction of the councillors. This is a great city and region in many, many ways including its sports character. To even suggest such a letter and interview with the NHL commissioner is such a moronic idea, it defies belief, and is bone-headed to the max.

I think Mr. Milton's advice and assessment is sound, and has caused me to reconsider my previous advice supporting the letter from council.

I think Mr. Milton is right in that we need to speak the language of business. It is all about appealing to the concept of "profit making". We are better off working diligently behind the scenes to mend and build bridges, while making a compelling case for Hamilton's competitive edge. If we can articulate that in business terms, rather esxpressions of hurt pride, our chances are better.

I guess the only point of departure with Mr. Milton's assessment, is that I don't accept that councilors are going about this recklessly.

I think they mean well and it is more of a case of confining their interest and involvement, in favour of astute business networking, from those who are in the best position to do so.

Every is still forgetting the ONLY language the Board of Greed speaks is American.

We had a team eon's ago and as such Hamiltons history should be enough to exempt it from the BS 50 mile rule, expansion or any other thought up barriers to prevent this city from rightfully housing an NHL team that is long overdue.

Factor in the snubbing from Betteman and you might as well be talking to a wall, This man has nothing to offer anyone in canada but BS and lies.

A piece of advice for Mr Balsillie would be to start up a Canadian League and show the US where hockey lives and plays as a way of life and not a way of GREED!

Screw the NHL and support Canada till the NHL does what it will inevitable do without the support of the Canadian fans and players, FOLD.

(1) The Buffalo Sabres have blocked an NHL team from landing here in Hamilton more than once.

(2) The Buffalo Sabres have NOT officially come out to state that they have CHANGED their stance on the territorial issues.

There is no evidence to support this. The Sabres may not support having a team in Hamilton however there is nothing they can do inside or outside the NHL to prevent it from happening.
Case in point would be NY Ranger/NY Islanders/NJ Devils and more recently the LA Kings/Anaheim Ducks. All fall within the NHL restriction. The precedent has been set many times.

Hamilton lost the expansion team more due to the fact that Mr. Joyce wouldn’t provide the blank check that the NHL was looking for. No one can blame him.

The key to getting a team is having an owner with deep, deep pockets. Mr. Balsillie can provide the pockets, Hamilton has the arena. We need to let Balsillie work on this at his pace and not allow our inept politicians to get in the way. The best thing we can do as citizens of Hamilton is to tell the politician to butt out.

I heard Mr. Bratina being interviewed by Mr. Kelly that Hamilton is not a 2nd class city. Mr. Bratina spoke of the cuff with no stats or any pertinent information on behalf of our great city Hamilton.
Tony Cipriani

This is a somewhat trivial matter when compared to the serious issues facing the City. You may have read in Saturday's Spectator (today) that lead continues to be a concern to Public Health as blood screening tests come back. I urge residents with young children to consider having them tested. You can call the blood lead screening program directly at 289-808-3811. This is a serious public health issue and all children between ages 0 and 6 who live between the Mountain and the harbour, and between highway 403 and Parkdale should have this testing done. It's a very simple and quick test, but has significant meaning to the healthy development of your child.

Another issue of interest is the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Legislation, known as SCAN or Bill 106. I attended 2nd reading in the legislature by Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi and it sounds very hopeful that this tool to address crack dealing, prostitution and other illegal activities in rented properties will come to pass. I was astounded to hear an opposition member suggest that this was simply about gentrification, evicting the unfortunate to allow "lobbies to be painted and rents increased". There are people, many of them seniors, living in terror in their own buildings, in some cases City Housing, not to mention the problems caused in the neighbourhoods. This legislation has been enacted in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Newfoundland and Yukon Territories with positive results. The City of Calgary, shortly after approving the legislation, closed down a crack house using the terms of the new law. Another criticism by the opposition member was that SCAN has not reduced drug-dealing, and that what we really need is more addiction counselling. If that member has a way of reducing the drug-trade she should come forward with it immediately to allow the entire world, suffering an epidemic of drug-related crime, to benefit. We need to do what we can and this legislation holds great promise for helping residents to rid their neighbourhoods of this kind of activity, or at least reduce it and improve the quality of life of many vulnerable people having to endure criminal activities in their buildings.

I hope I have the support of residents in continuing to fight against the ridiculously high amount of money Council is intending to spend to provide itself with office space. The City Hall renovation will cost an estimated $75 million dollars to provide 200,000 square feet of space. The total City requirement is 400,000 square feet. The building in which we currently reside, the City Centre (formerly Eaton Centre) has a total capacity of 425,000 square feet, which we could have purchased for $3 million dollars. I believe we still have an opportunity to remain in this location and negotiate a favourable deal with the owner which would save taxpayers tens of millions of dollars. Remember that once City Hall reopens, we will still need to provide another 200,000 square feet of space. 60,000 square feet will be provided by the Lister Block purchase, at a cost of $25 million dollars. We ar now up to $100 million dollars, and still require 140,000 square feet which at current lease rates would cost per year between $2 million and $3 million dollars. In this time of economic downturn, it is difficult to understand why Council and staff are not exploring the best use of your money, especially when we could easily save $50 to $80 million dollars and provide excellent accomodation for our staff.

We could then sell the old City Hall to private investors for use as a hotel, residence, institutional use (perhaps McMaster) and provide some incentive to see that its heritage attributes such as the marble cladding are preserved. Remember, we're going to save $10's of millions of dollars which would enable us to offer some assistance, some of which is in place now with our Heritage grant program. This is your tax-money being spent, and in my view wasted under the direction Council has chosen. I hope you agree that these things are far more important discussion topics. The NHL governor's insult in my opinion needed to be responded to, and we have agreed to respond, and that's the end of it.
Bob Bratina

Mr Bratina: You refer to some the problem areas to be in City Housing? As an activist in the community, we have heard many stories about the horrid conditions of city housing and the lack of oversight in this area. How come those in charge of city housing are not on the hot seat? How can social housing, run by the city be some of the worst in the city? Or could one say it is more of the same, the nameless, faceless bureaucracy, that in itself that perpetuates the issues of poverty by those in our community who have the most?

For all the other issues you have brought up, well, I guess one only say, "Follow the Money", that will lead you to the path of enlightment.

When the Hamilton group were down making their presentation to the NHL Board of Governors in West Palm Beach Florida for the 1990 NHL expansion team the Hamilton group made the best presentation of all the groups there. About 30-minutes before the official announcement was made Peter Pocklington, then owner of the Edmonton Oilers came up to the Hamilton group to congratulate them for being awarded a brand new NHL team but then when the official announcement was finally made they awarded Tampa Bay and Ottawa with the new clubs and that's when we found out afterwards that Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs both blocked Hamilton's entry into the NHL even though we had the best bid of all the groups. Both Toronto and Buffalo were very upset that Hamilton was even being considered because of territory infringement issues, this according to Phil Esposito, who at the time was a part of one of the winning bids in Tampa Bay.

According to Phil Esposito, the bid was blocked by Seymour Knox III (then owner of the Buffalo Sabres) and the Toronto Maple Leafs organizations.

You can read the actual Esposito quote in a National Post article, bottom of article here:

The Buffalo Sabres would block an NHL team from coming here again and anyone who doesn't think so should get their heads out of the sand. Again, the Sabres have NOT come out and officially stated that they have changed their stance on the territorial issues.

I'm finding it very difficult right now to believe that Mr. Waterloo Jim Balsillie actually cares about Hamilton. I think the only thing that he actually cares about is our 18,000 seat Copps Coliseum Arena which he would need to house an NHL team temporarily while a new rink gets built next door in K-W.

The world must have froze over with our early bout of winter....a city councillor actually talking about saving millions of taxpayer monies.

Bob, there is one thing the residents of this city can agree on...we pay too much in property taxes.

The problem we have is that council and the mayor do not have the same penny pinching mindset that the average citizen has...council seems to think the money is endless and is not willing to make the sacrifices because you continue to think we have to appease everyone....plus the fact that each councillor is more concerned about their own little "riding" than the city as a whole.

Was the Jackson Square (Eaton Centre) ever given a thought? Makes perfect sense to me...the whole Jackson Square is basically not for profit businesses anyway

Why are we still contemplating spending millions on a decrepit building (Lister Block) other than the city being so close to LIUNA and the other unions in town?

Was reading that Joe Rinaldo talking about reducing the tax increase would result in loss of services.....Why not start looking at the frivolous spending first (I noticed that the city has erected three new signs coming into Waterdown....how much did they cost us; just so that we know we are in Waterdown?)

How about the cost in supporting the PanAm games? Let's get out now before we are in too deep (Take a good look at the problems with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics...taxpayers are on the hook for another $100 million for the Athlete Village, which they may never recoup)

We need to have some fresh faces in the senior management of this city instead of the ones who continue to say we need to raise taxes plus we need a council prepared to make some decisions instead of always having "close" votes on everything.

I am sure, if we go through every department, we can find millions in savings without reducing service or infrastructure.

Thank-you for the useful information. I do support the notion of finding a better and more cost effective arrangment for City Hall and the required office space.

I'm not sure I would agree with continuing to have it reside in the in the City Centre. The optics are bad and moreover, it is somewhat out of line with the rich history this city has had.

I think Hamilton deserves more than backing its city hall, the very symbol of its being, into a shopping mall.

However, I am with you 100% in finding a better solution than the current one. I think your cautions and concerns in this area are valid. I also agree, in principle at least, with mayor Eisenberger's initial suggestion that we explore partnering up with others to build a new city centre.

I ask again..why does Mr Bratina continue to visit this blog to tell us hes the only one in council trying to save money.
The reality is totally the opposite in chamber, raising taxes and fares to cover everything from inept money management to pie in the sky spending.
Is there no other councillor willing to dispute the off the cuff, outside the house ramblings of this man?
Please tell us why Mr. Bratinas money saving ideas are not feasable?
Why do department heads loose money because of various reasons and then say "someone has to pay, just not us here" ?
We know you people are loosing your jobs and your ability to pay more, but we're raising the price of milk and bread?
All of these statements make absolutely no sense, it occurs to me that its all just grandstanding.
Remember those people we pay huge packages for, not one of them foreseen the biggest meltdown in history. Are we to believe the incompetence of these people, therefore no way do they deserve massive pay-offs. Or a more likely senario that they new full well that it was coming, but like snakes hiding in the grass, they chose to skim and eat every mouse to the very last second.
Either way, theres never been at time for more exacting words.." governments and corporations big enough to give you everything you want, are big enough to take it all away"
When will we learn?

Least we not forget the former Mayor of Toronto's plea to the Spice Girls to "please play for us"...sometimes silence is golden.

Supporting and encouraging new business and commerce in this City is not the same as arguing and bickering in Council trying to look as Council has the best interests of this City in its sites; instead of grandstanding and trying to argue Robert's Rules of Order.

This city is a laughing stock now, just imagine how much worse it would be if people outside the city found out we had our permanent city hall in an old shopping mall. It's one thing to have it there temporarily while renovating that decrepit old building on Main street, but as a permanent solution, give your head a shake.

Nicole Macintyre

Nicole MacIntyre is the queen of kings. A married mother of two boys, including the world's former worst sleeper, she's also a reporter and parenting columnist at the Hamilton Spectator. A devotee of the 'whatever works' approach to child-rearing, Nicole has learned to never say "I'll never" when it comes to parenting.